Supreme Court may strike down DOMA: Day 2 of gay marriage debate

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over California’s anti-gay-marriage law Proposition 8, the justices heard a case against the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

And early signs from the oral arguments point to dissatisfaction with the law for various reasons, including Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s characterization of DOMA as creating “full marriage” and “skim milk marriage” distinctions.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, always a wild card in the court’s votes, raised concerns that DOMA violates the federal system of government by intruding on whether states can regulate marriage, which has always been a state power.